Samsung warns customers not to discuss personal information in front of smart TVs
February 9, 2015
Samsung has confirmed that its “smart TV” sets are listening to customers’ every word, and the company is warning customers not to speak about personal information while near the TV sets.
The company revealed that the voice activation feature on its smart TVs will capture all nearby conversations. The TV sets can share the information, including sensitive data, with Samsung as well as third-party services.
The news comes after Shane Harris at The Daily Beast pointed out a troubling line in Samsung’s privacy policy: “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party.”
Samsung has now issued a new statement clarifying how the voice activation feature works. “If a consumer consents and uses the voice recognition feature, voice data is provided to a third party during a requested voice command search,” Samsung said in a statement. “At that time, the voice data is sent to a server, which searches for the requested content then returns the desired content to the TV.”
The company added that it does not retain or sell the voice data, but it didn’t name the third party that translates users’ speech.
Update, Feb. 10: Samsung has updated its policy and named the third party in question, Nuance Communications, Inc. Meghan DeMaria

GAME SHOCKER Horrified dad found sick messages from paedo predator in his eight-year old son’s Roblox iPad game
Iain Morrison warns fellow parents after approaches while playing game made his ‘stomach turn’
By CARL STROUD 15th February 2017
The father decided to check out the game – dubbed the new Minecraft – after reading a worrying article about it online.
Iain, from Hull, East Yorks, believes the game, which is aimed at children aged between eight and 12, is being used by adults looking to meet up with vulnerable youngsters.
He said: “I just had it in my head that I needed to ask the boys if they were playing on this Roblox game after reading about it online.
“They said they had it so I’ve said let me have a look at it.
“From the outlook it looks completely fine, you can go into different rooms and in the first room I wasn’t sent anything untoward.

The NSA’s ultimate goal is to destroy individual privacy worldwide, working with its UK sidekick GCHQ, journalist Glenn Greenwald warned an EU inquiry, adding that they were far ahead of their rivals in their “ability to destroy privacy.” READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/dgt0n5

Following a privacy outcry concerning a wi-fi “mesh network” being installed in Seattle with DHS funding that has the capability of recording the last 1,000 locations of anyone in its vicinity, the Seattle Police Department announced last night that it is temporarily deactivating the network.

As we highlighted yesterday, the $2.7 million dollar system, a series of white wi-fi boxes affixed to utility poles with which authorities had planned to blanket the entire city, can track cellphones even if they are not connected to the network. The system can also collect a mobile user’s IP address, mobile device type, apps used, current location and even historical locations.

Infowars subsequently obtained documents from a government insider that revealed how the mesh network was far more than just a means of tracking people’s locations, it was also linked with DHS fusion centers and collected a “wealth of information” from the cellphones of people in the coverage area.

The Seattle Police Department responded to the controversy by announcing that it will temporarily deactivate the network, which was rushed through the Seattle City Council with virtually no oversight, and allow public scrutiny of the system before proceeding.

“The wireless mesh network will be deactivated until city council approves a draft policy and until there’s an opportunity for vigorous public debate,” SPD spokesperson Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said last night, adding that turning off the system involves, “a little more than just flipping a switch.”

“Our position is that the technology is the technology,” Whitcomb added, “but we want to make sure that we have safeguards and policies in place so people with legitimate privacy concerns aren’t worried about how it’s being used.”

If you think encrypting online data could save it from the prying eyes of the NSA or Britain’s GCHQ Edward Snowden’s latest leak will disappoint you, to say the least. It shows America spent billions of dollars in the past decade on breaking protective codes – opening up what you thought was private. The European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship has spoken out on the NSA’s global snooping, as Peter Oliver reports.